By MICHAEL BOYLAN
Sports Editor

Managers of the Peachtree City Tennis Center believe there is always room for improvement.

The center recently was named the Tennis Facility of the Year for the state of Georgia, and now it has added a new pro to its award-winning staff.

Patricia Hy-Boulais was born in 1965 in Cambodia. At the age of 6, she moved with her family to Hong Kong. She was always a big fan of Tennis and at the age of 16 she came to the states and attended the Bradenton Academy in Florida. The Bradenton Academy has instructed numerous current and former tennis stars at their school. The instruction not only helped Hy-Boulais make the Hong Kong Fed Cup team in both 1981 and 1982, but when it came time to decide on a college, she chose the University of California Los Angeles in 1984.

That was a big year for Hy-Boulais. She was a member of the Hong Kong Olympic Team, as well as a ITCA Singles All-American at school. Within two years, Hy-Boulais joined the WTA, made the Hong Kong Fed Cup team two more times, and started moving her way up to a number one ranking in Hong Kong.

In 1989, Hy Boulais made a move to Canada. It was in Canada that her career resurged. In 1991, she was nominated WTA Comeback Player of the Year and made the Canadian Fed Cup team. In 1992, she made the Canadian Olympic team, began her five-year reign as the number one ranked player in Canada, the winner of the Tennis Canada Excellence Award and the Tennis Canada Player of the Year Award, and made the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open, the Canadian Open, and the Family Circle tournament.

There is no doubt that Hy-Boulais has had an illustrious career. She has won five career singles titles, was ranked 29th in the world at the highest point of her career, is a USPTR certified professional, was the president of the WTA from 1997-1998, is president and owner of Simply Soft Inc., a web site development company, and speaks four languages — English, French, Chinese and Cambodian.

There is a lot that can be learned from Hy-Boulais, both on and off the court, and the Peachtree City Tennis Center is happy to be on a resume as full as hers.

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